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Turning your passion for sport into a career is the goal of many, and with sports management jobs, including becoming a sports agent, you have the ability to do just that! With semi professional and professional athletes so pressurized to perform well in order to start and maintain their careers, sports agents are needed to manage their business for them to let them concentrate on their games.

Senior vice president of IMG and global director of golf clients, Clarke Jones, explained how he got into the business, “I liked the idea of being able to combine two interests, business and sport, in my career. While that was what led me to the business initially, there have been so many learning opportunities and great experiences in the industry that I didn’t realize would be possible at the time.”

Sports management, however, is not a simple job and no matter how big a sports fan you are, competition is cut throat. According to Adam Pincus, a South University Online legal instructor, “Becoming a successful sports agent is definitely considered to be competitive. There are four main professional sports leagues in the United States and there are only so many players in each league. So there is, to some degree, a limited amount of clients to represent. Athletes typically hire sports agents to represent them in contract negotiations with their respective team, or to field offers from several teams if the client is a ‘free agent’ and available to sign a contract with any team.”

Although sports are highly competitive from high school level, Gary Glick, the president and founder of Synergy Sports, says, “A college football player cannot sign with a sports agent until after the last game of their senior year. Although I cannot sign them during the football season, I observe the players by scouting the football games, maintaining contacts with different schools, and attending agent-player week. Most of the schools in the Big 12, have agent-player week. As an agent, you have to be registered in the state and with each school. Through that system the school knows who you are.”

Through this system, the process of athletes signing with agents is done fairly and legally. The names of the eligible players are given to the agents who will be sent an invite to the agent-player week.

So what do you need to do as a sports agent? Well, 99 % of the time, once an athlete has signed with an agent, they work with them for the duration of their sports career. Your responsibility will be to look after your player, ensuring that they get the best possible representation, by creating a hype around them. You will need to negotiate contracts with teams, sign advertising deals, create marketing partnerships, and be on hand to guide and support them through the many issues that will come up during their career.

Jones says, “It’s rewarding to see them succeed because you know you’ve done your job for them.”

Another aspect to being a sporting agent, considered number one by Steven Jeffers of Elite Sports Agency, is to ensure that all the laws and guidelines of the various athletic associations are followed. Jeffers commented, “The second-most important function is to maximize our client’s worth to teams in which we are negotiating a contract for. At times we have to take less to become successful and that also includes our clients taking less money to have better opportunities in the near future and prolonging their professional careers.”

Pincus added, “Much like buying or selling a home, the agent needs to be aware of the fair market value of their client and factor in any other particulars that may be relevant to the negotiation.”

As you can see, getting a sports agent job requires a lot of preparation, research, and great negotiation skills in order to become a success. To learn more about how to become a top sports agent, visit Sports Career Finder right away.